Self-unloading box with transverse discharge opening including a continuous spiral auger with cutting means

ABSTRACT

A truck having front drive wheels and dual tandem rear drive wheels carrying a self-unloading box having a rotating spreader for selectively discharging material rearwardly and to either side of the box. The box is mounted on the truck frame so that a major portion of the box is located forwardly of the transverse load line between the rear dual tandem drive wheels. A rotatable transverse auger having outwardly directed knives discharges material from the box. A gate located rearwardly of the auger is used to close the material discharge opening.

United States Patent Steinke Mar. 12, 1974 SELF-UNLOADING BOX WITH3,063,723 11/1962 Toft 239/672 x TRANSVERSE DISCHARGE OPENING 3,176,8844/1965 K1ouda.... 222/542 X 3,123,363 3/1964 Hedtke 239/676 INCLUDING ACONTINUOUS SPIRAL AUGER WITH CUTTING MEANS Charles W. Steinke, 413 NorthPark, Fairfax, Minn. 55332 Filed: on. 4, 1971 Appl. N6; 186,064

Related US. Application Data Division of Ser. No. 829,431, June 2, 1969,Pat. No. 3,612,410.

Inventor:

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1966 Klover 222/236 X PrimaryExaminer-Stanley H. Tollberg Assistant Examiner-James M. Slattery [57]ABSTRACT A truck having from drive wheels and dual tandem rear drivewheels carrying a self-unloading box having a rotating spreader forselectively discharging material rearwardly and to either side of thebox. The box is mounted on the truck frame so that a major portion ofthe box is located forwardly of thetransverse load line between the reardual tandem drive wheels. A rotatable transverse auger having outwardlydirected knives discharges material from the box. A gate locatedrearwardly of the auger is used to close the material discharge opening.

13 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures rmminumwn 3.796354 SHEET 2 0F 2 II /ASELF-UNLOADING BOX WITH TRANSVERSE DISCHARGE OPENING INCLUDING ACONTINUOUS SPIRAL AUGER WITH CUTTING MEANS CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATEDAPPLICATION This application is a division of U. S. Pat. applicationSer. No. 829,431, now U. S. Pat. No. 3,612,410.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION structures are used to continue to build thestorage pile.

SUMMARY or INVENTION The invention broadly relates to a motor vehiclecarrying a self'unloading unit which can be used on relatively softground or material, as silage, pea-vines and like materials. The vehicleis a six-wheel drive machine having a long generally horizontal frame.Front single or dual drive wheels are operatively mounted on the frontportion of the frame and tandem dual drive wheels are mounted on therear portion of the frame. Secured to the frame over the dual rear drivewheels is a box or container for carrying particulate material. Themajor portion of the box is located forwardly of the transverse loadline of the rear drive wheels. When the box is loaded, the weightdistribution on all of the drive wheels is substantially even so thateach drive wheel will operate in an efficient and efiective manner topropel the vehicle over the soft supporting surface. I ocated in the boxis a horizontal conveyor operative to move the material in the boxtoward rotating spreading means carried on the rear section of the box.The rotating spreading means includes an auger operative to pick up thematerial adjacent the horizontal conveyor and move the materialrearwardly spreading the material on the supporting surface. Locatedbelow the auger is a gate which can be closed so that the auger canoperate to move the material in a transverse direction through anopening in the side of the box. The drive to the distributing auger maybe reversed so that the material is discharged through the opposite sideof the box.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view of the six-wheel drive truck andself-unloading box of the invention showing the longitudinalrelationship between the box and truck frame;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the truck and box of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2showing the auger spreader mechanism mounted on the rear of the box; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3. i

Referring to the drawings, there is shown in FIG. 2, a six-wheel drivemotor vehicle, indicated generally at 10, having longitudinal frame 1 lcarrying a pair of front steering drive wheels 12 drivably coupled to adifferential 13. Wheels 12 can be single or dual wheel assemblies. Aconventional internal combustion engine under hood 14 is connected to asuitable speed reducing transmission to transmit power to thedifferential 13 to provide the vehicle 10 with front wheel drive. Adrivers cab 15 is located behind hood 14.

Mounted on the rear portion of the frame 11 are dual tandem drive wheels16 and 17 which are connected to the engine with suitable differentials.The vehicle 10 is known as a six-wheel or 6 X 6 drive truck. Thetransmission may have 3-speed dual range hydraulic controls providingthe vehicle with five forward speeds in each range.

Secured to the frame 1 1 is a self-unloading container or box, indicatedgenerally at 18, for carrying particulate material, as silage,pea-vines, haylage, and like forage materials. The box has parallelupright side walls 21 and 22 joined to a transverse rear wall 23 and anupright front wall 24. The front wall 24 is adjacent the rear of cab 15.

As shown in FIG. 1, the distance Y from adjacent the rear of the cab 15or the front of the box to the center of the tandem drive wheels or thetransverse load line 26, between the rear dual tandem drive wheels, isgreater than the distance X from the transverse load line 26 to the rearof the box. The distance X from adjacent the rear of the cab 15 or frontof the box to the axle of the front drive wheels is approximately equalto the distance between transverse load line 26 and the rear of thevehicle. The distance X is approximately two-thirds of the distance Y.The distances X plus Y is equal to the load carrying length of the box18. As an example, the distance X can be 7 feet and the distance Y 9%feet. This ratio of the location of the box relative to the frame 11places a major portion of the box for wardly of the transverse load line26 so that when the box is full of particulate material, there issubstantially equal load on all of the six drive wheels of the vehicle.As the material unloads from the vehicle, there is a minimum ofvariation on the drive wheels, as the material is removed from themid-portion of the vehicle. The loads on the opposite ends of thevehicle are relatively equal whereby all of the drive wheels can performin an effective and efficient manner.

Referring to FIG. 3, the box 18 has a relatively flat floor or bed 27carrying a horizontal conveyor 28 operable to move in a rearwarddirection, as indicated by arrow 29, to move the material 19 in the boxtoward a spreader mechanism, indicated generally at 30.

As shown in FIG. 4, spreader mechanism 30 extends transversely acrossthe rear of the box 18, and is operable to selectively dischargematerial rearwardly or to opposite sides of the box. Spreader mechanism30 comprises a transverse spreader auger 31 rotatably mounted on theside walls 21 and 22 with suitable bearings. The spaced outer portionsof anger 31 carry a plurality of cutting knives 32. Each knife is a flatblade having upwardly and inwardly inclined cutting edges 32a and 32bwhich extend beyond the periphery of the auger. The auger 31 isconnected to a motor 42 or a power transmitting transmission operable torotate the auger in the direction of the arrow 33. The outer ends of theknives 32 move past the end 34 of the conveyor 28 in a contiguousrelationship to break up and move the particulate material out of thebox. In use, the

knives have a combined cutting and plowing action as the blades arepositioned at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the box.

Pivotally mounted below and rearwardly of the auger 31 is a gate 36hinged to the bottom of rear wall 23 on a hinge 37. A lock structure(not shown) is connected to the gate to hold the gate in a closedposition as shown in full lines in FIG. 3. The gate retains the materialin the box during transport'and also functions as a bottom wall or floorwhen the auger is used to convey material to either side of the box. Asshown in full lines, the gate 36 may pivot to an upright positionwhereby the entire bottom of the rear section of the box is open so thatthe auger 31 is operable to pick up the material from the conveyor 28and evenly discharge material rearwardly of the box 18.

Positioned above the auger 31 is a beater 38 having a plurality ofaxially and circumferentially spaced teeth 39. The beater 38 rotates inthe direction of the arrow 41 and is drivably connected with a chain andsprocket drive 43 to the auger 31. The heater 38 operates to break upand feed the top portion of the material down into the auger 31. Aseparate drive motor or transmission can be used to rotate the beater.

The side walls 21 and 22, adjacent the ends of the auger 31, areprovided with removable side doors 44 and 46 respectively which can beopened so that the auger can feed material laterally of the box. Hinges,releasable members, slides and like holding structures 45 are used toretain the door and 46 on the side walls. The doors may be used aslateral chutes to direct the material away from the sides of the box.The auger 31 is rotated in one direction to feed the material throughone side of the box. Rotation of the auger 31 in the opposite directionwill feed the material to the opposite side of the box. The motor 42, orequivalent power transmitting mechanism, can be provided with areversing drive so that the auger 31 can be selectively driven inopposite directions.

Various omissions, changes in form, size and details of the truck andspreader self-unloading box, as illus trated and described in thepreferred embodiment of the invention, may be made by those skilled inthe art without departing from the invention. The invention is definedin the following claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In combination: a frame; a box mounted on the frame adapted to carryparticulate materials, said box having a floor, side walls extendedgenerally upward from opposite sides of the floor and an end dischargesection having a transverse discharge opening adjacent one end of saidfloor and extended across the floor, said end discharge section having agenerally upright transverse wall; transverse spreading means locatedbetween the side walls in the discharge section inwardly of thetransverse wail above the horizontal plane of the floor and outwardly ofsaid one end of said floor, said spreading means operable to dischargeparticulate materials longitudinally through said transverse dischargeopening; conveyor means located on the floor for moving material in thebox toward the spreading means, means for moving the conveyor meansrelative to the floor, said spreading means comprising auger meansincluding a continuous spiral flight having outer edge portions extendedtransversely across the discharge section ad jacent the transversedischarge opening in transverse contiguous relationship with thedischarge portion of the conveyor means; a plurality of outwardlydirected cutting means mounted on the outer edge portions of the spiralflight for breaking up the particulate materials moved into the augermeans; means for rotatably mounting the auger means on the side walls;and means to rotate the auger means whereby the particulate materialsmoved by the conveyor means into the auger means are broken up by theoutwardly directed cutting means and moved through the transversedischarge opening thereby discharging particulate materials through thedischarge opening.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein: the outwardly directed meanscomprise knife means secured to said auger means, said knife meanshaving at least one cutting edge extending outwardly from the augermeans.

3. The combination of claim 1 including: gate means for closing thetransverse discharge opening under and rearward of the auger means, saidgate means movable to a position to open said transverse dischargeopening whereby rotation of the auger means discharges material from thebox.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein: said discharge section is locatedat the rear end of the box.

5. The combination of claim 1 including: a transverse end wall securedto the side walls and located rearwardly of the auger means.

6.. The combination of claim 5 wherein: the end wall extends in anupward and forward direction.

7. The combination of claim 5 including: gate means for closing thetransverse discharge opening under and rearward of the auger means andmeans pivotally mounting the gate meanson said end wall.

8. The combination of claim 1 including: rotatable beater means extendedbetween said side walls above said auger means and means to rotate saidheater means.

9. The combination of claim 8 wherein: said beater means has a pluralityof axially and circumferentially spaced radial teeth.

10. in combination: a frame; a box mounted on the frame adapted to carryparticulate materials, said box having a floor, side walls extendedgenerally upwardly from opposite sides of the floor and an end dischargesection having a transverse discharge opening adjacent one end of saidfloor and extended across the floor; spreader means located between theside walls in the discharge section above the horizontal plane of thefloor and outwardly of said one end of said floor, said spreader meansoperable to discharge materials longitudinally through said transversedischarge opening; conveyor means located on the floor for movingmaterial in the box toward the spreader means, means for moving theconveyor means relative to the floor, said spreader means havingrotatable auger means including a continuous spiral flight extendedtransversely across the discharge section adjacent the transversedischarge opening in transverse contiguous relationship with thedischarge portion of the conveyor means; a plurality of outwardlydirected cutting means mounted on the outer edge portions of the spiralflight for breaking up the particulate materials moved into the augermeans; means rotatably mounting the auger means on the side walls; meansto rotate the auger means; transverse end wall means locatedrearwardlyof the auger means and means having cutting edges extendedoutwardly from the spiral flight for breaking up the particulatematerials moved into the auger means.

12. The combination of claim 11 wherein: the end wall means extends inan upward and forward direction.

13. The combination of claim 10 including: rotatable beater meansextended between said side walls above said rotatable auger means andmeans to rotate said beater means.

1. In combination: a frame; a box mounted on the frame adapted to carryparticulate materials, said box having a floor, side walls extendedgenerally upward from opposite sides of the floor and an end dischargesection having a transverse discharge opening adjacent one end of saidfloor and extended across the floor, said end discharge section having agenerally upright transverse wall; transverse spreading means locatedbetween the side walls in the discharge section inwardly of thetransverse wall above the horizontal plane of the floor and outwardly ofsaid one end of said floor, said spreading means operable to dischargeparticulate materials longitudinally through said transverse dischargeopening; conveyor means located on the floor for moving material in thebox toward the spreading means, means for moving the conveyor meansrelative to the floor, said spreading means comprising auger meansincluding a continuous spiral flight having outer edge portions extendedtransversely across the discharge section adjacent the transversedischarge opening in transverse contiguous relationship with thedischarge portion of the conveyor means; a plurality of outwardlydirected cutting means mounted on the outer edge portions of the spiralflight for breaking up the particulate materials moved into the augermeans; means for rotatably mounting the auger means on the side walls;and means to rotate the auger means whereby the particulate materialsmoved by the conveyor means into the auger means are broken up by theoutwardly directed cutting means and moved through the transversedischarge opening thereby discharging particulate materials through thedischarge opening.
 2. The combination of claim 1 wherein: the outwardlydirected means comprise knife means secured to said auger means, saidknife means having at least one cuttIng edge extending outwardly fromthe auger means.
 3. The combination of claim 1 including: gate means forclosing the transverse discharge opening under and rearward of the augermeans, said gate means movable to a position to open said transversedischarge opening whereby rotation of the auger means dischargesmaterial from the box.
 4. The combination of claim 1 wherein: saiddischarge section is located at the rear end of the box.
 5. Thecombination of claim 1 including: a transverse end wall secured to theside walls and located rearwardly of the auger means.
 6. The combinationof claim 5 wherein: the end wall extends in an upward and forwarddirection.
 7. The combination of claim 5 including: gate means forclosing the transverse discharge opening under and rearward of the augermeans and means pivotally mounting the gate means on said end wall. 8.The combination of claim 1 including: rotatable beater means extendedbetween said side walls above said auger means and means to rotate saidbeater means.
 9. The combination of claim 8 wherein: said beater meanshas a plurality of axially and circumferentially spaced radial teeth.10. In combination: a frame; a box mounted on the frame adapted to carryparticulate materials, said box having a floor, side walls extendedgenerally upwardly from opposite sides of the floor and an end dischargesection having a transverse discharge opening adjacent one end of saidfloor and extended across the floor; spreader means located between theside walls in the discharge section above the horizontal plane of thefloor and outwardly of said one end of said floor, said spreader meansoperable to discharge materials longitudinally through said transversedischarge opening; conveyor means located on the floor for movingmaterial in the box toward the spreader means, means for moving theconveyor means relative to the floor, said spreader means havingrotatable auger means including a continuous spiral flight extendedtransversely across the discharge section adjacent the transversedischarge opening in transverse contiguous relationship with thedischarge portion of the conveyor means; a plurality of outwardlydirected cutting means mounted on the outer edge portions of the spiralflight for breaking up the particulate materials moved into the augermeans; means rotatably mounting the auger means on the side walls; meansto rotate the auger means; transverse end wall means located rearwardlyof the auger means and spaced from the end of the floor to provide thetransverse discharge opening between the end of the floor and thetransverse end wall means; gate means for closing the transversedischarge opening under and rearward of the auger means, said gate meansmovable to a position adjacent the end wall means to open saidtransverse discharge opening whereby rotation of the auger meansdischarges material through said transverse discharge opening.
 11. Thecombination of claim 10 wherein: the plurality of outwardly directedcutting means include knife means having cutting edges extendedoutwardly from the spiral flight for breaking up the particulatematerials moved into the auger means.
 12. The combination of claim 11wherein: the end wall means extends in an upward and forward direction.13. The combination of claim 10 including: rotatable beater meansextended between said side walls above said rotatable auger means andmeans to rotate said beater means.